Posted: December 4th, 2008The Time is Now: An Equity Agenda to End Poverty

With a new administration, now is the time for the United States to address its seemingly intractable problem of poverty. But to accomplish this, we need a new understanding of how the federal government can help all people participate and prosper in healthy, affordable communities. Rather than continuing to tackle separately the underlying issues of race, class, and democracy, public policy expert Angela Glover Blackwell argues a new administration should construct a new “equity agenda” to address these issues comprehensively. This event was held at The New School.

368 Long Island principals (including three from BBP) plubished a letter this week seeking to delay implementation of the new teacher evaluation system. This system gives each teacher a 0-100 performance rating each year, 20% of which is derived from how well students perform on standardized tests. It is designed to introduce accountability into the system and thereby increase teacher quality, the single-most important school-based factor in the quality of a child’s education. The principals’ letter said, among other things, that A number between one and one hundred simply cannot describe the complex work of an educator. The principals may be right. The number won’t be perfect. But 100% of a kid’s grade is based on a number between one and one hundred and being a student is complicated too. So is any kind of professional work, and yet it is evaluated (fairly and unfairly) all the time. The point is that we need accountability in order for education to improve and the kids can’t wait. Change is never easy, but change in this case is overdue. I’m glad the principals voiced their concerns, but now I hope they can overcome their trepidation and get behind this law, understanding the real and tangible power Albany has just given them to improve their schools.